Eli, Autumn and Titus stood shoulder to shoulder at the top of the steps. Iris and Victoria stood behind them. The lumbering beast pushed through the grass just ahead, the huge round shell on its back now visible just below the tops of the parting grass.

"Maybe it's friendly?" Autumn asked.

"Don't count on it," Eli replied.

The creature's head pushed out of the grass. It had a skull like a giant snapping turtle, complete with a vicious spike pointing down in front of its maw. Its eyes were large and fierce, darting from one adventurer to the next as it took its first steps onto the stairs. Eli raised his staff towards it, but Victoria placed a hand on his shoulder. He held his aim without charging a blast.

"There's hostility in his aura," she explained, "but it's not for us."

"Does that help us?" Iris asked.

"Not sure," Eli answered.

The tortoise took another step, slow and deliberate. Then it stopped and stretched out its neck and craned its head around to sniff the air.

"You are not wizards," the tortoise spoke in a deep, booming voice that Iris could feel in her chest, "why are you here?"

No one replied. Iris nudged Eli in the back, "you're the leader," she whispered.

"Uh," Eli stammered, "we're just passing through."

"Ah," the tortoise said, "you know not what you have disturbed."

"Yeah," Eli said, lowering his staff, "we're picking up on that."

"Talking turtle!" Autumn whispered in awe, catching a side eye from Eli.

"Hmph," the tortoise snorted, "typical."

Eli glanced around at the others for input. Titus offered nothing but a shrug, while Iris gave him an exasperated, overwhelmed look of confusion. It was Victoria who spoke next, stepping up between Eli and Autumn, "there are few great beasts that keep their wits."

"Aye," the tortoise boomed, a tinge of amusement hidden in its voice, "power begets madness."

"It's an honor to be in your presence," Victoria kept her composure but her voice still wavered as she spoke, "we seek passage to the Great Forest beyond the plains."

"This is not my territory," the tortoise said, "my domain is to the south. The serpent is the one you seek."

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Eli and Victoria exchanged a worried glance at the mention of a serpent.

"No way!" Autumn said, "does it talk too?"

Eli shushed her, but the tortoise replied.

"It does not. At least, not usually to its prey."

Autumn gulped.

The tortoise craned its head to the sky, "go now, and move quickly. The creatures of the plains will be preoccupied for a time."

"You're letting us go?" Eli asked.

"As I said, this is not my domain. I am here to await the wizards, should they arrive."

"Who are these wizards?" Victoria asked.

"That is not your concern."

"Should I push the rocks?" Autumn whispered.

"What? No." Eli said, "t-thank you, great one."

The tortoise sniffed in derision, "leave these lands." It began lumbering up the steps.

Everyone looked to Eli.

"You heard him," he said, "Iris, grab everything. Victoria, chart us towards the forest."

Autumn helped Iris hurriedly stash their loose supplies and items into her bottomless bag, while Victoria moved to the steps on another side of the ziggurat and surveyed the lands between them and the distant tree line. Titus stood on the steps above the tortoise with Eli, both watching wearily as it climbed the steps.

"Backpacks too, if they'll fit," Eli said, dropping his small pack on the ground behind him.

Iris jammed Eli's pack into the bottomless bag. The larger backpacks carried by Autumn and Titus were initially too large for the opening, but the bag stretched and widened to envelope them.

"Shit!" Autumn shouted as she tried to carry one too many items in her arms across the platform to Iris. A bottle dropped and rolled away, bouncing off the pile of rocks at the top of the stairs. A few rocks budged and tumbled down the steps and under the tortoise's step. Its foot slipped out from under it and the large, reptilian head slammed into the stone steps.

"Shit!" She repeated, "sorry!"

The tortoise released an angry breath, then looked up and locked eyes with Eli.

"Run," Eli said.

Everything was still for a moment, then the party dashed towards the stairs facing the forest. The tortoise lunged with remarkable speed, its round shell carving deep ruts in the pillars on either side as it slammed into them. Its neck extended and the vicious maw snapped around the open platform. Eli and Titus barely managed to dodge, while the others were able to escape cleanly.

"Pests!" The tortoise yelled, slamming the edges of its shell into the pillars again, breaking off more chunks of brick.

They escaped into to the tall grass with a sprint.

"Stay close," Eli called out from somewhere.

"I can't see anyone!" Autumn said.

Titus reached down and hoisted her up onto his shoulders, "never mind," she called out, enjoying the view over the tops of the grass.

Iris quickly teleported into the air and then back down into the grass, catching a glimpse of Autumn peeking out above it and heading in that direction, she repeatedly this periodically to stay on course. Victoria kept her eyes glazed over, scanning her allies' auras through the grass to keep close. Eli charged ahead, peering up at the sky to find Glimmer. He whistled a series of sounds like a songbird's call, which Glimmer understood as instructions to lead them to the trees.

"It's grassland as far as I could see," Victoria said, "no visible structures, any wild auras left are fleeing."

With all their packs in Iris's bag, they moved lightly and quickly. Even after Victoria looked back and confirmed the tortoise wasn't following them they only slowed slightly.

"Is it always like this?" Iris said through panted breathes, "one thing after another?"

"Yeah," Eli said from somewhere in the grass.

"This is just normal week for us," Autumn said, twisted from her perch on Titus's shoulders to look back towards Iris.

"No it's not," Victoria said, "this is an extremely weird week."